Prying Open my Third Eye
by The Rev
Summary: An almost completely untold story: Tienshinhan. From the day of his birth on, the triclops tells his life. Slight AU
1. Death of a Father

Author's note: I just wanted to say that there may be a few inaccuracies later as far as the Budokai portion of Dragonball. I've only seen bits, so I just have to ad lib.

Also, thanks to DoraMouse and tim333 for writing about Yamucha and Krillin, because minor characters need their space too.

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Tienshinhan:

Why am I writing?

It's kind of weird when I think about it. I haven't even known how to write for most of my life. Why would an assassin really need to write? All I had to do was kill the people I was paid to kill, and live my life.

I just realized how brutal that sounds. Well, I can't say I have no regrets. I've done some things I'm sorry for. That might be part of why I'm writing this. To get everything down on paper and out of my head for the first time. The only person who's heard any of this is Choutzu.

It is kind of nice to have a friend who's psychic. They can just read your mind and know. You don't have to bother with talking. Sometimes, talking only confuses things more. We try to rationalize things, or change them for the better. Yeah, I guess that's why I don't really talk that much. 

So this is it. My story. 

The Third Eye:

"I can't believe it. It's all true." The woman looked happy, but too shocked to really show it much. "I just can't grasp it."

The man standing next to her was beaming. He was chinese, with a thin moustache and long, pointed beard on his chin, with a face that seemed older, wiser than the woman's. but at the same time he seemed young, energetic. He was clad in flowing robes that were so many different colors it almost hurt the eyes.

"He will do great things. The power is I him, my wife." His voice was high, but still male.

The woman was beautiful, almost angelic. Her hair was long and golden, to full of light to be called blonde. Her eyes matched the color exactly, and she was wearing the same robes as her husband.

"But they'll come for him. They'll want him." She looked worried now, but the happiness was still visible underneath. "When they come for him, we won't be able to fight."

"Maybe so." The man said. "But right now we mustn't worry about that. We must be happy and celebrate the new life."

The woman's smile returned full force. "Of course, my husband."

She reached down into the cradle in front of her, and lifted out a bundle. It was a healthy looking baby, squirming and full of life. A bouncing baby boy, as they wold say now. The baby was normal in every respect but one.

In the middle of his forehead, exactly between and above the normal two, was a third eye.

"What shall we call him?" the man asked, looking down into the baby's face with love.

"He will be great of spirit. He has the mark, just like they said he would." She said. "His name should be powerful."

"Tienshinhan." The man said. "Eye of Heaven."

The baby smiled, as if the name pleased him. He laughed and clasped his mother's hand in his own tiny ones. Her smile grew even wider, and she laughed.

"It's perfect." She said. 

And maybe it was. They were all happy, but not destined to remain so for long.

On a snowy hill not far from the small house where the aforementioned events were taking place, a man with long gray hair lowered a pair of binoculars from his eyes. he was wearing a heavy green parka with an RR symbol stitched into the left breast. His eyes were a cold silver, like his hair.

Next to him (they were sitting in a jeep) was a slightly frightened looking soldier, clad in the normal Red Ribbon army green uniform. He was shivering, even though the gray haired man next to him didn't seem to feel the cold at all.

"Lieutenant Gray?" the shivering man asked. "Is it time to move in? has it happened yet?"

"Yes." Gray said, his voice scratchy, like a lifelong smoker's. "The boy is there. We move in, in just one second."

He picked up a CB radio with one wrinkled hand and pressed the button. "We have confirmed the child is in the hut. Shall we proceed?"

The radio crackled static, and then the reply came, generic coded army chatter. But Gray understood well enough. They had permission to proceed. 

The elderly lieutenant slumped down into the seat and cranked the old jeep's starter to life. The jeep also displayed the Red Ribbon logo. It drove through the snow, it's rather loud engine rattling over the wind that was rising up.

The glow of light from the small house was visible on the snow, providing a beacon for the two soldiers to drive toward. The sound of the jeep's engine would probably alert the two adults inside the house, but what did it matter? There was nowhere to hide, and no way to fight.

At least Gray assumed so. 

The mother stopped laughing instantly as the sound of a motor revving came suddenly out of the snow. The father's face mirrored her's, suddenly looking worried and just the tiniest bit angry.

"They wouldn't." he said, his eyes narrowing under the brim of his circular, pointed chinese hat. "Not so soon after the birth."

The motor stopped, directly outside, idling in the snow. 

For a second there was nothing. Then a series of hard bangs hit the door.

"Quick, take Tienshinhan out through the back window, and hide. Get away from the house."

The mother clutched her baby tighter. "But what about you?"

"I will do what I can." The man said. "Perhaps I will join you later. But if not, rest assured that I died well."

The woman did not argue. She ran to the back of the hut, where there was a large window. She pried it open and lifted it, snow blowing in past her, sending her golden hair flying.

She took one last glance back at her husband, then was gone.

He stood for a second, listening to the banging on the door. The wind whipped in through the open window, and as the snow covered the floor, his hat was blown off, revealing long black hair pulled into a single braid.

In the middle of the man's forehead was a third eye.

The banging on the door stopped, and all three of the man's eyes closed. He wasn't so stupid as to believe that they had given up. Red Ribbon had been very clear in their demands.

They were going to ram the door.

The man's eyes opened again, calm. He folded his hands in front of his chest, facing the door, the parted them slightly, forming a triangle.

"Come, then." He whispered.

Gray stopped pounding on the door in frustration. He let out a ragged sigh and turned to the young, still shivering soldier beside him.

"I want you to circle the house, and make sure that they haven't wormed out some other way. I'll shoulder through the door."

The soldier saluted weakly, clutching his gun, and walked off briskly around the corner of the house. 

Gray put his shoulder to the door and shoved hard. The wood was old, and gave way easily. He almost fell into the house, but caught himself just before he would have run into the man on the other side.

"Wha…" he began, but that was as far as he got.

Then Tienshinhan's father threw his life at him.

The soldier got around the second corner, so that he was in the back of the house, and saw the woman sneaking into the woods. He immediately got a bit of vigor, mostly at the thought of what Gray would do if he let her get away.

"Hey, you!" he yelled. "Get back here! I'll shoot!"

The woman showed no sign of hearing him, which wasn't surprising with the wind howling around them. But it didn't really matter, his orders were clear. Thy were supposed to kill the parents, anyway.

He raised the assault rifle, looking through the telescopic scope, immediately bringing the speck of a woman near the woods into sharp focus. She might have still gotten away, but she paused once just before entering the trees.

He settled the crosshair on her throat and squeezed the trigger.

At the same time, a huge explosion of light and sound suddenly tore a huge chunk from the front of the house. The soldier cried out in unison with the woman he had just shot, and spun to see what had happened.

But the light was gone already. And strange as it had been, the soldier knew he had a job to do.

He took off across the brief field that separated the house from the woods beyond, wading through the snow toward the woman. Before he was even close he was sure that she was dead.

When he finally got to the spot, he could see that his shot had torn her throat away. She lay in a puddle of blood on the snow.

The baby lay a few feet away, still wrapped in a blanket, and crying quite loudly. He picked it up, and it promptly began to fight, proving marvelously strong as it hit him in the chest with one little fist. The soldier would look in amazement the next day at the huge black and blue patch it would leave.

He held the baby as tightly as he could to keep it from squirming out of his arms. Then he headed back across the field.

Tien's father lay on his back in the middle of the floor of a house that was now completely open to the elements. The whole of the front wall had been turned to splinters, and lieutenant Gray had been reduced to dust.

The man was hardly much better off, though. His life force was gone, and now he was surviving on pure will, for what purpose he couldn't know. He only felt that he must, for at least a minute longer…

Then the soldier carrying his son came around the house, into plain view. The young man jumped at the sight of what had happened to the house.

"Where is Lieutenant Gray?" the man asked, walking into the house with the still struggling child. He didn't sound angry. In fact, he sounded simply puzzled.

"He's in hell." The father said, struggling to draw breath. "Where you and those who you follow will all end up eventually."

"What happened?" the soldier still seemed too puzzled to be angry. "How…"

"I sacrificed myself for the life of my son. It may be in vain, because you have him now anyway. But please…" now the man's voice seemed to falter, and his face grew more lined by the second. "Take care of Tienshinhan. See that he lives."

The soldier said nothing. 

"Tell me you will do this." The man said. "Please. So that I may die in peace."

"I…" the soldier cleared his throat. "I will see that he's taken care of."

"Then I recant my words." Tienshinhan's father said. "You are a decent man, despite your profession. I can go now and rest."

The father's chest gave one final rise, then it fell. It did not rise again.

The soldier lingered for a second, then bowed his head and walked out of the house to the jeep.

He had started the mission not knowing much about it, only that General Red wanted this specific child to be Red Ribbon's new top assassin.

Now he had to somehow find a way to make sure it would live, to make sure the baby was at least treated decently.

He had promised the boy's father, a father so dedicated he had died for his son.

The soldier sat the baby down in the jeep's passenger seat. Tien seemed to be exhausted, and was now in a fitful doze, looking as if he were having nightmares.

The soldier jumped into the driver's seat and gazed down at the baby.

"Tienshinhan, huh? Well, I guess I have to take you back to headquarters, Tien." He started the jeep with a rumble that made Tien stir but not awake.

They drove off into the night.

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Tienshinhan:

So, that's the beginning, my earliest coherent memories. I never knew until just recently that I'm probably the only human who can remember that long ago, when I had only been born hours before.

My parents. Were they warriors? Priests? Maybe even minor gods? I wish I knew. Maybe someday I'll be able to find out, but for now there are other things, other stories to tell. I'm going to take a break; this writing thing is still a little new to me. But I'll be back. My tale is far from over.


	2. The Drawing That Came to Life

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Tienshinhan:

I decided to continue with my story. I had a few doubts last night as to whether it was worth anything to write it all down, and then I even began to wonder what it could mean if I did _write it all, and someone found it. _

As I said, I've done some things I'm not very proud of.

Well, I guess it doesn't really matter yet anyway. I won't get to the really bad stuff just yet. Right now there's another story to tell. How I met my best friend.

The Third Eye:

Four Red Ribbon scientists were gathered around a stainless steel table in a stainless steel room. They were hastily whispering between each other, and one was scribbling something on a clipboard.

The talk and scribbling were about the small boy that was sitting on the table. 

Tien found all of this very boring. All three eyes were closed, and his hands were folded placidly in his lap. He almost looked as if he was meditating, but in fact he was just trying to tune out the people around him.

"..getting stronger every day…"

"…does Gero know how well the boy's progressed?"

"…something may have to be done about it…"

The talk went on and on, not interesting to Tien in the least. He was five now, and had been living all his short life in the Red Ribbon Army barracks. He had trained, eaten, and slept. This routine had been broken by the semi-regular tests that were run on him for any number of reasons.

He was in the middle of the one scribbling and three talking scientists was that he had destroyed the last training robot the army had created for him. That wasn't really very surprising, since he broke training robots all the time. But this one had been the newest model, and made especially tough, so strong that ten RR soldiers all beating on it with sledge hammers hadn't made a dent in it. It had taken the army's scientists years to create it.

It took Tienshinhan less than ten minutes to destroy it.

To him it didn't matter in the least. In fact, it could even be perceived as a good thing. Since he had been able to walk, all that the scientists had wanted was for him to keep getting stronger. But now that he had done what they wanted, they acted like something bad had happened. Of course, it could just be surprise that made them act that way.

"Well, whatever he decides to do about it, we have to tell Dr. Gero. It's all up to him in the end, anyway." One of them said. He was very tall, very thin, and had a very large nose that made the rest of his face look too small.

The second scientist, who was a humanoid dog, made a gesture of agreement. The third was short and fat, and only shrugged his shoulders.

The fourth, the one who had been working on the clipboard, smiled and held it up.

"Look at this, you guys!"

A picture of a strange looking little clown.

Tien sighed at the glimpse he got of the drawing as he opened his eyes to slits. Sometimes the scientists acted like they were younger than he was.

"Keep on task, you baka!" the dog growled, grabbing the drawing. He crumpled it into a ball and threw it absently to the side. It landed on the table, only inches from Tien's leg. The little tri-clops picked it up and stuck it in his pocket, more from instinct than anything else. He didn't like leaving trash lying around.

Maybe it was fate, or maybe it was just luck. But that piece of paper with the funny drawing on it changed the course of Tienshinhan's life drastically.

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Tienshinhan:

It's a lot easier to understand now than it was then. I may have had a great memory, but I was still a kid.

I didn't know it at the time, but Red Ribbon was probably the biggest corporation in the world, even bigger than Capsule Corp. was at the time, for all I ever cared. And it worked in synch with many other organizations in the world. One of these was the huge Eastern Empire, later known as Choutzu's empire. 

I didn't know that the queen of the empire couldn't bear children. I didn't know that the emperor was dying, and how badly they wanted a child.

And if I had known, I don't think I would have cared. 

The Third Eye:

By the time the scientists had finished their test, their observations, their stupid babbling that in the end always led to nothing, it was long dark, and two guards were leading the young boy back to his room.

Tien walked through the hallway without looking at anything, or paying much attention to any speech that was directed at him. The guards weren't that talkative anyway.

It's an interesting thing. If someone had asked Tienshinhan if he was lonely, he would only have stared at them. How could he know if he was lonely? From the day he was born, he had lived in the control of the Red Ribbon Army. He had no idea how to feel any other way. 

All the same, he was always conscious of a vague pull on his heart, a feeling that there was something that should be in his life, but was not. He couldn't talk to anyone about; the very thought was laughable. Who would he tell? The scientists? The armed guards? They would only mumble some generic response and never think of it again. They were only hired hands, really.

When the little group reached Tien's room, the soldiers immediately saluted, turned, and left. Tien opened his door, stepped into the room, and locked it.

The entire place simply radiated the bland sameness all army barracks seem to have, as if it had been mass produced in some giant factory and there must be thousands more of this same room somewhere. The walls were drab gray metal, and completely unadorned. In one corner was a bed, made of the same metal with a mattress made of pale blue cloth, not really thick but thin enough to be slightly uncomfortable. A chest of drawers against the back wall contained nothing but dozens of plain green gis.

He crossed the room and hopped easily up to the bed that stood as high as he was tall, and laid down on his back, lacing his fingers behind his head. But before he had really settled in, he felt a lump in his pocket.

He reached one hand into it and pulled out the crumpled paper. Curious, he opened it.

Faced with the funny sketch the scientist had done, he had to chuckle just a little. When he was alone and not surrounded by Red Ribbon employees, it was much easier to laugh at something he had found disdainful earlier.

He was suddenly struck by a pang of loneliness. He just suddenly wanted someone to laugh _with._ This sudden need startled him a little, and even frightened him. For a five year old, he had an awesomely accurate memory and a very sharp mind. He could not recall any instance before when he had wanted to interact with someone. As far as he was concerned, it was a completely alien impulse, something to be squashed.

But…

Wouldn't it be nice to talk to someone else about things that mattered? Not just to give short yes and no answers to some scientist's questions, but to really have someone listen to you and care what you said?

He sighed and stuffed the drawing under his pillow. Then he rolled over to go to sleep, deciding that he was far too tired tonight to do anymore thinking on it.

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Tienshinhan:

That night, with the drawing under my pillow, I had a really strange dream. To this day, I don't know for sure whether or not it has anything to do with Choutzu coming to be, but I know that if it doesn't the coincidence is remarkable. So I guess I should put it down here. If anyone besides me ever reads this, then they can decide for themselves what they think is the right answer.

The Third Eye:

Tien was running. That in itself wasn't strange at all; he ran for hours every day, so it wasn't all that uncommon to have dreams about it. Since he rarely ever saw a television set, and had no clue how to read, there wasn't much else to dream _about _but training.

This time it seemed different, however. He wasn't just running, he was chasing something. He couldn't tell what it was, only that it looked like a person and ran on two legs, very fast. Faster than him, even, which no one he had ever encountered before was able to do. 

He tried to see the figure as he ran, to study it. But even though the strange corridor of his dreams was well lit, like the corridor of the Red Ribbon base he had always lived in, every time he tried to look at the running figure, it seemed to cheat his eyes and be veiled in shadow.

"Wait!" he called, "Come here!" 

Of course the figure paid no attention; it seemed to run faster, if anything. But all this did was make Tien more curious as to what it could possibly be. The dream was so vivid, it almost seemed as if he was actually chasing someone in the army base!

But now he was feeling strange. His feet seemed heavy, and he almost felt like he was floating, rather than walking. The hall was beginning to change as well. Now it was shadowy, and the walls were made of stone and coated with moss. His child's mind felt a little worried now, but he could no more have stopped moving and turned back than he could have reached the moon.

The running figure in front of him was drawing further away, it's speed increasing. And to his growing alarm, he was slowing down.

"Please!" he yelled after the fleeing wraith, only wanting to not be completely alone in this dark place. While awake, he was a silent, almost adult presence. Now, in his dreams, he did not try to guard his childish fear. He didn't want to be alone.

But the fleeing figure was hopelessly out of sight, and he was coming to a halt.

His feet stopping on the very cold feeling stone path, he stared forlornly off after whoever or whatever had led him to this place, this catacomb of a dream palace.

He sank to the floor, sitting down hard and not really able to think, only feel. He had a strange feeling that he had had this dream before, that he had been here but not known it. And this crushing sense of loneliness didn't seem new.

As he sat on the floor, he felt a lump in his pocket. Curious, he reached I and pulled out the drawing; the one he had stuffed under his pillow before he went to sleep. Why did he have this?

But it made him feel just a tiny bit better, this reminder of other people. He held it as he wrapped his arms around himself, closing his eyes and hoping that maybe he could find another dream.

Just as he drifted from the land of his mind back to the world of wakefulness, a single tear, the only one he had ever shed since the night of his parent's death, trickled down one cheek, and fell to splash on the crumpled paper in his arms.

When Tienshinhan drifted awake, the first thing he was aware of was a ki as large as his own in the same room.

A normal warrior would have leapt up at once. But Tien wasn't being trained by Red Ribbon to be a normal warrior, he was being trained as an assassin. So he reacted differently, not moving at all, only keeping his eyes open in slits. 

It went without saying that whatever was in the room with him didn't intend to kill him, or it would have already been done. The question was, what was the motive of this invader? It wasn't a ki he recognized. 

But then, it didn't seem hostile. In fact, the ki of this unknown person felt confused and lonely.

Lonely. His dream came back to him, and he suddenly, without making any real conscious decision to do so, opened his eyes and sat up.

At first he did not even register what he was seeing. It looked like the figure from the drawing, sitting at the end of his bed. But that wasn't possible.

Was it?

Tien rubbed his eyes, then looked again. The little clown was still there, only now he realized that it didn't really look like a clown, but more a like a porcelain doll of some kind. It's hands were folded in it's lap, it's short legs dangling over the edge of the mattress. Over all it looked a little shorter than Tien.

It was looking at him with wide, wondering eyes. For almost a full minute, neither of the two said a word.

Finally, Tien broke the silence. "Who are you?"

The living doll shrugged. "I… I don't think I know. Who are you?" it's voice was high, like a doll would be expected to sound.

"I live here." The tri-clops said. "This is my room. Don't you know your own name?"

He shook his head (already Tien thought of it as he). "I don't really know anything but… why are you sad?"

The question caught Tien off guard. "Who said I was sad?" he said defensively, looking, truthfully, pretty sad.

"I can feel it." The doll said. "Why do you feel so sad?"

He could feel it? What in blue hell did that mean? Tienshinhan felt confused, but the loneliness was creeping up behind that, and yes, he did feel sad. Sad and lonely.

But he didn't know how to say this to someone, so he simply said, "I don't know."

The doll seemed to find this satisfactory, though he looked worried. His expression was hard to place, and it took a minute for Tien to realize that it was concern.

"You have to have a name." Tien said, changing the subject. The little guy's concern made him feel exposed; he wasn't used to people actually worrying about him, let alone strange little doll-like things that had just shown up in his room and didn't even know their own names.

"Maybe I do." The doll looked hopeful. "And I just don't know it. Or maybe you could give me a name."

Give him a name!? This whole thing was getting too strange for Tien, and he was beginning to wonder if he could possibly still be dreaming. But he could feel that he was awake, and the clock on the wall read 4:17 am, and that was about right. 

Suddenly his stomach rumbled. Things began moving early at the Red Ribbon base, and breakfast would be soon. He jumped down from the bed to get a gi from his dresser to put on for the day, and the thought of the dumplings that would be served for breakfast passed through his mind.

Then just like that, a name hit his mind. Normally, if a strange, out of place thought like this hit him he would have just moved on, but the name seemed so oddly fitting that he had to say it.

"Choutzu." He said with a small smile, very unlike his normally cold self. "You can be Choutzu."

Choutzu seemed really pleased with his name. A huge smile lit up his face, and he jumped down from the bed. "Wow, I have a name now!" then he looked questioningly at Tien. "If my name's Choutzu, what's your name?"

The triclops smiled. "I'm Tien."

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Tienshinhan:

I guess I'll pause here on a happy note. The next part of the story takes a bit of a turn for the worse. I would elaborate, but it'll be explained soon enough. Besides, why relive the more painful moments of my life more than once?


End file.
